Tobacco-stemming machine



Dec. 9, 1924. Y 1,519,077

H. WE IGAND ET AL TOBACCO STEMMING MACHINE Filed July 10, 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 DGC- 9 H. WEIGAND ET AL TOBACCO STEMMING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Shet Fild July 10. 1922 A T V D A MM W w ww 5 5 0 Dec. 9, 1924 1,519,077

- 1 I H. WEIGAND ET AL TOBACCO STEMMING MACHINE iled July 10;, 1922 Q 4, SheetS- Sheet 3 I 1,519,077 H. WEiGAND ET AL TOBACCO STEMMING MACHINE Dec. 9, 1

Filed July 10, 922 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 511 vs m fow h. Was/11w J. L. 50/015537 Chic-1 n 5 ing.

' sion for severin Patented Dec. 9, 1924. r

HENRY WEIGAND, OF WILKES-BARBIE PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO PENN TOBACCO COMPANY, OF WILKES-BABRE PENNSYLVANIA.

TOBACCO-STEMMI'N G MACHINE.

Application filed July 10,1922. Serial No. 573,784.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY VVEIGAND and Oscar: E ,SQHOBERT, citizens of the United States, residing at 'Wilkes-Barre and West Pittston, respectively, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in. Tobacco-Stemming Machines, of which .the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying draw- Our invention relates to tobacco stemming or stripping machines and more particularly to those of the type employing stein pulling means and a leaf carrier for engaging the stem butts with said pulling means, saidcarrier being provided with stripping means to hold the leaves back while the stems are being stripped therefrom.

One object of the invention is to provide improved stripping means which will readily accommodate and cleanly strip stems of numerous sizes.

A further object is to provide'a plate or some corresponding means for co-action with the stripping means in holdin the leaves back while the stems are eing stripped from said leaves. 1

Yet another object is to make effective provision for backing up the stripping means and the above named plate, against the strain incident to pulling the stems from the leaves. y

When the stripping operation is completed, each stripped leaf is in a bunched condition against thestripping means, and a further aim is to make provision for disengaging the leaves from said stripping means;

.Another object is to devise unique'means for depositing any leaves which are only partially stripped due to broken stems, at a separate point from the completely stripped stems.

p A further object is to make novel proviends and strip stilf-.portions t ereof', leaving the fine inner ends of the stems in the leaves, which is often desirable.

A'still further object is to provide novel;

means for adjusting one of the stem. pulling rollers according to the-size of the stems.

Yet miother aim is to provide a machine which will be greatly simplified and cheap- .employed for ooaction means in holding the leaves in' check while the stems near their inner mg only the comparatively the-drums 7, while a leaf-carryin stemming machine constructed in accordance with our invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation. Figure 3 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the machine.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view as indicated by line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Figures .5 and 6 are vertical transverse sectional views as indicated by lines 5-5 and 6 6 respectively of Fig. 4.

Figures 7 and 8 are perspective views show ng two forms of plateh's which may be wit the stems areybeing stripped therefrom! Figure 9 is a view showinglhe condition in which the leaves may be left by the machineif desired. X In the drawings, above briefly described, the numeral 1 designates an ap ropriate supporting frame which may well be rovidedwith floor-engaging legs 2 althoug it may of course be mounted in any preferred manner. in appropriatev bearings at opposite ends of AND OSCAR E; SCHOIBEBT, OF WEST PITTSTON,

the stripping Tranverse shafts 3 and 4 are mounted a the frame 1 and the bearingsat one end of said frame are preferably adjustable as in dicated at 5, sothat slack in the leaf carrying means hereinafter described, maybe readily taken u In the present showing, each of the shafts 3 and 4 is provided with a sprocket wheel 6 and an elongated drum 7, and between the two drums, we have shown a horizontal table 8 supported from the frame 1 by suitable structural members 9. Resting u on the table 8 is an endless leaf-carrying elt 10 which is'trained around belt 11, here shown in the form of a sproc et chain, is trained around the sprocket wheels 6. This chain is provided with a plurality of forks .12 ada ted to receive the butts of the stems when t e leaves are laid upon the belt 10, and these forks are adapted to move the stem butts into engagement with the stem pulling means which draws the stems from the leaves while the latter are held back by: the forks.

Each fork 12 is pr eferably forme'd of an elongatedplate of any preferred metal, said plate being secured. at one end to the chain 11 while its other end is fornied with a relatively deep and narrow notch 13 which is increased in width toward its open end and provided with a flared mouth. This construction readily accommodates stems .of different sizes aswell as facilitating insertion of the stem butts intothe notches, by the operatoror operators. When the stems are pulled from the leaves, notches 13 in reality constitute knives which cleanly out each leaf from the stem, instead of forming a rag ed edge upon the leaf, which is the usua outcome when certain other forms of stripping means are used.

The numerals 15 designate a air of standardswhich are suitablysecure to and rise from one side of the frame 1, adjacent the chain 11,. these standards being here shown as provided with ledges 16 upon which a hollow track 17 is secured for receiving theupper reach of said chain 11 so as to along one edge this chain incident to the stem stripping op eration. The track-17 is provided witha longitudinal'slot 18 through which the stem strippers 12 extend. and as shown .most clearly in Fig. 5, said track is preferably formed of two lengths of angle iron 19 and 20 respectively, the latter having arib 2] to'contact with the outer sides'of the strippers 12- so as to back up the latter during the-stripping operation.

The upper ends of these strippers are'backed up by a vertically movable plate 22 which is suitably mounted upon the standards 15, the

lower edge portion of said plate bein in overlapping relation with the upper en s of the strippers as shown. The plate 22 holds the stems in the notches .13 and co-acts with the strippers 12in holding back the leaves while-said stems are being stripped there-- from, thereby obtaining better results than could be attamed if no means were employed to co-act with the strippers 12.

In the present showing, we *have disclosed springs" 23 secured to the standards 15 and actin downwardly upon the plate 22. to

" hold it in proper engage ment with the stems twhlle permitting vertical yielding of said plate, accordlng to-the sizes of said stems.

It will be understood however that other means could be employed for exerting a downward stress upon the plate,-yet permitting it to yield vertically. We prefer to back up the plate 22 with a relatively heavy plate 24 rigidl secured to the standards 15 and we have s own slots 25in said plate 24 through which the springs 23 extend. Plate 22 rests flat against one side of the plate 24 the edges of the revent twisting or other distortion of and is held in this relation by suitable guides 26.

Any desired form of stem pulling means maybe employed, but weprefer to mount upper and lower rollers 27 and 28 made of any desired material between the standards 15, for this purpose, the front ends of these rollers being preferably provided with tapered metallic terminals 29 which facilitate engagement of the stem butts with said rollers, by the continually traveling strippers 12. The two rollers 27 and 28 are gearedtogether asindicated at 30 andv the shaft 31 of the lower roller is extended in'the present showing and provided with a pulley 32 to be engaged by a driving belt. We prefer to drive the shaft 4 from this shaft 31, by means of appropriate worm gearing 3 3. ers 27 and 28 will rotate at high speed, the leaf-carrying means will travel at a relatively low rate of speed, so'that the operator or operators may readily place the stem Thus, while'the pulling rollbutts. in the notches 13 when the leaves are laid upon the apron 10, and it may here be stated that this apron and the chain 11, preferably extend in advance of the stem-pulling rollers toi such an extent as to permit three operators to feed the ma chine,.so' that maximum capacity may be obtained, instead of allowing a number of the forks or strippers 12 to travel empty.

thereby elevatingsaid plate to the extent required, according to'the size of the stems.

As the butts continue to move beneath the plate 22, they are engaged with the pullin rollers 27 and 28 and these rollers act jomtly to pull each stem through its respective stripper 12, while this stripper and the co-acting plate 22, hold the leaf in check.

When the lower edge of this plate 22 is straight and uninterrupted as shown in Fig. 8, the entire stem will be stripped from each leaf, but by simply formin a shoulder 35 on the lower edge of said plate as shown in the general views and Fig. 7, the stems will bemo'ved against this shoulder by the strippers 12, before the entire stem isremoved from the leaves, the result being that the stems are broken and their delicate inner ends remain in the leaves as will be clear by reference to Fig. 9, this being desirable in certain instances. When the stripping operation has been performed by the machine, each leaf is in a bunched condition and .remains engaged against the strippers 12 until positively removed. To disengage leaves from the strippers, we provide any these bunched preferred means, such as a cam 36 which may well be secured to the track 17. When conveyor '(not shown), one of the dischargcharacter L in Fig. 1. If any v at the delivery end of the belt 10, the inner 'ingleaves being indicated by the reference leaves having broken stems are fed through the machine, the leaves will of course be stripped only as far as the break, and hence only one end of the leaves will be bunched against the strippers 12, while the other ends thereof will lie upon the belt 10. We provide unique means for depositing these partially stripped leaves at a different point from those upon which the stripping operation has been completely performed. For this purpose, we provide .an oblique barrier 37 I end of this barrier being contiguous to the belt, While its outer end is spaced therefrom as shown clearly in Fig. 1. The comletely stripped leaves pass over this barrier,

at anyleaveslying to any great extent upon the belt 10 afterthey have been only partially stripped, due to broken stems, will catch against the barrier 37 when their stripped ends are disenga ed from the strippers 12 by-the cam 36, t eresult being that these partially stripped leaves will'fall in advance of the barrier 37 so that they are separated from the completely bunched leaves.

As above stated, any referred stem .pullemployed, but when we use the rollers '27 and 28, we prefer that the uppermost roller 27 shall be carried in vertically adjustable spring-pressed bearings. The mounting of these bearings is detailed in Fig. 6, in which figure the numeral 38 designates one of the bearings which'is' slidably mounted in a 'guideway 39 in the upper end of one of the standards-15. A threaded stem 40 rises rigidly from the bearing 38 and passes loosely through a sleeve'41 which is adjustably threaded through the. upper end of the standards. A coil spring 42 is interposed between the lower end of the sleeve 41 and the bearing 38 and the compression of the spring may be varied by turning down the sleeve 41. By adjusting the nut 43 the stem 40 and'bearing 38 will be vertically adjusted. Thus, the stem pulling means may be set so as to obtain the most advantageous result. 45 merely desig We lock nuts for the sleeve 41 and the nut 43, respectively.

In connection with the featuresabove described, we preferably employ a shoe such as the peripherally grooved roller 12 to force the stem butts into the forks 12 before said butts are carried to the stem pull- The numerals 44 and ing means by said forks.) When this shoe is in the form of a. peripherally grooved roller as here shown, its groove receives the forks as will be clear by reference to Figs. 2

and3 which are the only views showing this suitable stop 12 being employed to limit the downward swing of said arm and thus prevent the roller from dragging upon the endless'carrier or the arms of the forks 12..

From the foregoing, it will be seen that we have devised an extremely simple and inexpensive machine for stemming tobacco leaves but nevertheless, the machine has proven, in actual operation, to be highly efficient and desirable. The leaves are continually placed upon the apron 10 with their stems positioned in the strippersl2 and by these means, the stem butts are en gaged with the stem pulling rollers 27 and 28 which extract the stems while the strip pers 12 and the co-acting plate 22 out the leaves fromithe stems and hold the former in check. If the plate 22 is of the desi n shown in Fig. 8, the stems will be completely in the leaves as shown in Fig. 9. All leaves which have been stemmed to the extent required of the machine, fall beyond the barrier 37 when disengaged from the strippers 12 by the cam 36, but leaves from which a relatively short ortion only of the stemj has been strippe will be shunted by the barrier 37 so that they will not be mixed with the completely stripped leaves.

As excellent results may be obtained from the details disclosed, they may well be followed if desired, but within the scope of the invention as claimed, numerous minor changes may of course be made.

We claim:

1. Leaf stripping means for use in combination with stem pulling means; comprising a plurality of stripping forks for movement with the carrier to receive the stem butts and engage them with the stem pullingmeans, and means overlapping said forks for holding the stems theren during the stripping operation.

2. The structure of claim 1 having the means overlapping the forks spring-pressed. for yieldable engagement with the stem.

3. Leaf stripping means for use in combination with stem pulling means; com prising a plurality of flat lates for movement with the carrier, each of said plates having a relatively deep and narrow notch to receive a stem butt and engage it with the stem pulling means, said notch being 1ncreased in width toward its outer end, and

means overlapping said plates for-holding the stems in said notches during the stripping operation.

4. Leaf strippingmeans for use in com bination with a leaf carrier and stem pullin-g means, said stripping a means being mounted for movementwith the carrier,

ary plate for backing up the outer ends of said knives during the stripping operation and retaining the stems in engagement with the knives, and a rigid track adjacent said belt for backing up the inner ends of said knives.

6. Stripping means for use in combination with a leaf carrier and stem pulling means, comprising leaf-stripping knives for movement with the carrier, and common means for holding the stems engaged with said stripping knives and backing up said knives during the stripping operation.

7. A structure asspecified inclaim 6; said common means comprising a plate stationary with-respect to the travel of said knives.

8. A machine of the class described comprising leaf stripping means for movement with a carrier, a relatively stationary plate for backing up said stripping means and holding the stems engaged therewith, said plate being mounted for movement according to the size of the stems, and means for backing up said plate.

9. A structure as specified in claim 8; said plate backing means com rising a relatively fixed and heavy plate slid-ably engaged by said first named plate.

10. A machine of the class described comprising a frame, a movable leaf carrier mounted thereon and provided with leaf stripping means, a pair of standards on the frame beside which said carrier moves, and a plate extending between and mounted for vertical yielding movement on said standards, said plate beinr coactive with said stripping means'in ho ding. the leaves back while the stems are being withdrawn by suitable pulling means.

11. A machine of the class described comprising a frame, a movable leaf carrier mounted thereon and provided with leaf stripping means, a pair of standards on the frame beside which said carrier moves, a fixed plate extending between and rigidly secured to said standards, and a vertically movable plate mounted slidably against one side of said fixed plate for co-action with said stripping means in holding the leaves back while the stems are withdrawn by suitable pulling means.

12. Leaf stripping means for use in combination with stem pulling means and a leaf carrier; comprising a plurality of folks for movement with the carrier to receive the stem butts and engage them with the stem pulling means, and means to force the stripped leaves from engagement with said forks. 1

13. Leaf stripping means for use in combination with stem pulling means and a leaf carrier{comprising a plurality of forks for movementwith the carrier to receive the stem butts and engage them with the stem pulling means, and a fixed cam beside which said forks travel, said cam serving to force the stripped leaves from engagement with said forks.

14:. A tobacco stripping means for use in combination with stem pulling means and comprising an endless belt, stripping means carried by said belt, a fixed track alon which .said belt travels to prevent lateral bowing thereof under the pull of the stripping operation, and a cam mounted on said rack for forcing the stripped leaves fromengagement with the stripping means.

15'. The combination with a tobacco stemming machine having a movable carrier for discharging both completely and incompletely stripped and bunched leaves; of a barrier at the delivery point of said carrier over which each completely stripped and bunched leaf passes and by which each par-,

tially stripped and bunched leaf isshunted.

16. The combination with a tobacco strip-- ping machine having a movable leaf carrier provided with leaf stripping forks; of combined means for holding the stems in said forks and severing-said stems before complete stripping thereof from the leaves.

17. A tobacco stemming machine. comprising a carrier having a plurality of forks adapted to receive the stem butts to engage them with stem pulling means, and a vertically movable shoe for forcing the stem butts into said forks.

18. A tobacco stemming machine comprising a carrier having a plurality of forks adapted to receive the stem butts to engage them with stem pulling means, and a roller adjacent said forks stationary with respect thereto, said roller being adapted to force the stem butts into said forks. I

19. A tobacco stemming machine comprising a carrier having a plurality of forks adapted to receive the stem butts to engage them with stem pulling means, and a pe ripherally grooved roller relatively station ary with respect to said forks for depressing the stem butts into said forks,-the peripieral groove of said roller receiving said for s.

A 20. A tobacco stenuning machine COIQPIiS- them with stem .pulling means, a shoe sdv our signatures.

ing acarrier. having a,v plurality ,of"forks 1 adapted to receive the stem butts to engage jacent saidforhs for forcing the stem butts 19 into said forks, and a pivotally mounted" arm carrying said shoe and permitting vertical movement of the latter.

In testimony whereof we hereunto aflix HENRY WEIGAND. OSCAR E. SCHOBERT. 

